After deliberating for about five and a half hours Friday, a jury in Athens County Common Pleas Court found 21-year-old Matthew Kulchar, a former Ohio University student, not guilty of rape or kidnapping in connection with an alleged sexual assault on a female student in September 2008.

The six-woman, six-man jury did find Kulchar guilty of complicity to evidence tampering, a third-degree felony.

On the stand, Kulchar had admitted that after he was arrested for the alleged rape, he sent a text message to his roommate from the OU Police station, telling him to dispose of a pair of boxer shorts Kulchar had been wearing when he was with the woman.

The trial, which lasted more than a week, included sharply contrasting stories from the two sides. The woman alleged that Kulchar had come to her Boyd Hall dormitory room and forcibly raped her repeatedly, despite her having told him to stop.

She also alleged that the rape injured her and caused serious bleeding, because it forced a tampon she was wearing up further into her body.

Kulchar admitted he had sex with the woman, but insisted it was entirely consensual, that the woman never asked him to stop or protested what was happening, and that he never saw any blood on her.

Judge Michael Ward ordered a pre-sentence investigation in the case, and ordered Kulchar be evaluated for the Septa Center, a prison alternative facility in Nelsonville.

Athens County Assistant Prosecutor Rob Driscoll asked that Ward increase Kulchar’s bond to $250,000. It had been at $100,000, and had been posted to keep Kulchar out of jail.

Ward decided to keep the bond where it was, however.

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Why?
written by Doug, November 06, 2009

Why would he have his roommate dispose of his boxers if he is innocent? Does this make sense to anyone? Or is he really guilty and they just didn't have enough evidence for this jury to convict him?

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written by random tom, November 06, 2009

I don't understand either about the shorts very strange. I was wondering there has to be a way to tell if the tampon deal was right. I would think any woman old enough for college would NOT consent to sex with a tampon in. Ofcourse we only know half the story. Wonder if the roomate trashed the shorts and is he in trouble for that? I can't for the life of me understand why any man would need to rape a woman this has to be able the most nasty thing to ever do to a human. I would hope that any woman being raped could go along with it long enough to get a hand full of nards and no holds bared rip t hem off not squeeze them rip them off. I have no place in my world for a rapest or child molester and think they should be treated with the most inhumain idea we as good people could think of actually a child molester really just needs to be put to death asap. I think if our courts would start getting as nasty as a rapest or molester then things might change but that would take ages. Pray for this woman cause there is no way no way she would say yes to sex and leave a tampon in and why would he not notice don't you think that might hurt him he has to be one sick pup i'd love to have 5 minutes with.

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written by Eileen Lebowitz, November 07, 2009

I am totally confused ??? How can a person be guilty of tampering with evidence if he was found not guilty of the crime associated with the alleged evidence tampered with. According to accounts all the evidence that the prosecutor had was never tested, was thrown into a paper bag and all contaminated, so big deal you didn't have the evidence. I think this was a witch hunt to begin with. There should be charges brought against the woman for purgery and the city of athens should be sued for wasting taxpayers money. It's like you just needed to find him guilty of something. Shame on the prosecutor for putting a liar on the stand. No different then the Duke case and the recent case in Long Island where boys were falsely accused of rape. It happens more often then not.

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written by Eileen Lebowitz, November 07, 2009

She lied 37 times. There was not enough evidence to convict. Her own friends disputed what she said. There was other male dna found on her pants. There was 1 1/2 hours between her leaving her friend and seeing Mr. Kulchar, who's dna? She was only 12 feet from the exit. Always, remember there are women who cry rape for revenge. She wanted the case dropped in November. The DA said no. this was the State Vs. Kulchar, not her vs kulchar. I know if I was raped I wouldn't be texting my rapist asking how they are and saying sorry. Let's feel sorry for the woman who where really raped.

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written by Eileen Lebowitz, November 07, 2009

Here is another note. She claims there was blood all over her sheets. When the prosecutor pulled the sheets from the evidence bag, guess what No Blood, No Blood on the sheets or her anywhere and the police never tested anything. Mr. Kulchar has never been arrested for anything, a good student. Let the reporter report how many lies this woman told, lies that were proven. This case is extremely frustrating to me. She should be penalized in some way.

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written by DD, November 07, 2009

I agree with Eileen. Poor guy. I wonder if he managed to graduate or dropped out because of this whole thing.

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written by DD, November 07, 2009

Oh, I also think they should release the name of the "alleged victim." Kulchar's name has been everywhere, and he's innocent! How is that fair? Even if you don't think he is innocent, imagine anyone accused of rape who was truly innocent, and was the victim of a liar. The woman's name still isn't released? She should at least have her name revealed as a consequence, if nothing else. Personally, I think she should also be punished for lying!

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written by Peggy, November 07, 2009

I would never want to see a young woman raped. But I firmly believe that
this young man was innocent and was wrongly accused. This should never have
gone to trial. What women who is raped is calling her rapist to say I am sorry I wish I could stop this. This was a terrible injustice on an innocent person. The prosecutor also made her a victim by not allowing her
to call off this whole thing when she requested to do so. Remember Duke University, it is just another incident of young men being falsely accused and their lives being turned upside down over a false accusation.

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written by Sue, November 07, 2009

I am happy with the outcome, lets hope she get counseling for whatever is going on in her life. I hope this young man can get his life back on track and be careful with whom you lay with.

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Finally - justice in the hills of southeast Ohio!
written by MARY - CALIF, November 07, 2009

My daughter dated Matt for 2 years. We have stood by him since he was arrested a year ago. In Calif. this he said/she said case would never have made it to the courts. Quite ironic to be found guilty of tampering with evidence in a case where defendant was not found guilty. I say he deserves at least probation. The Jury (who heard 9 days of testimony) did a superb job.

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written by Vicitim, November 07, 2009

I did text him. I was in a very fragile and confuse state of mind and wanted him to know that I was sorry for everything that he was going through. His name was in the paper, he had been kicked out of school, he was being charged of very serious crimes. We were friends, close friends, and even though he did something terrible that hurt me, I was still not happy that he was going through all of that. I wanted to drop the charges at the time because I wanted to give up. After having all power and control taken away from me, I was trying to stand up for what I believed was right. It did get very difficult at times, and that is why I wanted to drop the charges. None of you will ever be able to know what you would do in a situation like that until it happens to you. Why didn't I run? Why didn't I fight harder? I don't know. In my mind, I had done all that I could do. I fought him for an hour and tried reasoning with him over and over again. The jury found him not guilty. He will probably not serve jail time. He got away with raping a girl over and over again. The only thing keeping me sane is the fact that there will be a greater judgment. I wish that there was a way for all of you to know the truth of what happened that night. But none of you ever will. I could be lying, and so could he. The only thing that matters is that I know what happened that night, and so does Matt. He will lie about this his entire life. He will have to live with what he has done.

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written by A voice of compassion, November 07, 2009

Victim,

You are so right. No one knows what it's like unless they've gone through it. And ANYONE can claim "well, this is what I'd do if it were me..." but they have no idea. There is no 'right' way to handle the situation. There isn't a script on what to do when your power is taken from you. I'm sorry for what has happened here. And I truly wish you the best. Get help. Find someone to talk to. I hope you heal and are able to trust again some day.

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written by Liz, November 07, 2009

I know Matt and he would never hurt a fly. He became involved with an unstable girl, and has been unfairly punished for it. The jury found him not guilty because he is innocent and the evidence proves it. The "victim" lied, and did not have the courage to tell the truth even after it went too far. She knows the truth, and she'll have to live with stealing a year of a young man's life and putting both him and his family through emotional hell.

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victim supporter
written by amb , November 07, 2009

This is the EXACT reason girls don't report rape! Unless you were present in the courtroom, you know only lies the defense created through the arrest and trial. The papers have misprinted information regarding the case--key facts--and have had an overall negative view of the victim. The "35 lies" are taken simply for face-value; until you are in a situation like this, you have no idea how mind boggling the process truly is.
He will live with this lie the rest of his life and the people who actually believe him, will always believe she is lying. But she and Matt will know exactly what happened that evening and even though a rapist is walking, his justice will be served in hell. Believe that it was consensual, but when an individual says "NO" yet he continues, that is rape--to anyone who has a common sense. The tape of the phone call the next morning alone is enough evidence for a conviction of rape; saying "I'm sorry" and "I'm stupid" multiple, multiple times conveys regret for his actions. He may have been a good person, but good people do horrible, unforgivable acts; HE is one of them. They both know the truth about what really went on that evening. She will know that she fought for justice, but Matt hired a manipulative lawyer that was able to convince the jury there wasn't enough evidence for a conviction.

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written by Justice?, November 07, 2009

Did you know that there was a controlled phone call made in which he apologized over 30 times. And he claimed he was apologizing because she wanted to be in a relationship and was angry that they had sex. Yeah right. How will he sleep at night? He brutally raped a girl for hours and got away with it. So much for justice. And now people assume that she's lying because 12 random people said he's not guilty. Maybe we should notice the flaws in our justice system before accusing her of lying. It's terrifying to me how easy it is to get away with something like this. He should be in jail.

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written by Truth, November 07, 2009

Not guilty does not mean that he didn't do it. It means that they didn't have enough hard evidence to prove that he did it. This kid is a sad, pathetic excuse for a human and should pay the consequences for what he did. For all of his supporters, maybe you should look a little deeper into the situation and stop verbally attacking a rape victim.

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It's not the victim, it's not the alleged, it's the process.
written by ,,,, November 08, 2009

Having been the victim of a rape in Athens county and hearing the stories of others, this comes as no shock to me. Regardless of the "he said" "she said", the way that rape cases are handled in this county by both the police and the courts is appalling. A better way of handling things, say, not out of the early 19th century, would go a long way, regardless of who is a victim and who is not.

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written by DD, November 08, 2009

How do you "victim supporters" know the truth any more than those of us who support the accused? You CAN NOT. I only know that I lived in Boyd and those walls were pretty thin. If someone was struggling and forcefully saying "no" or whatever else they had to say, it is likely someone would hear it. Even if I didn't know the situation, I would probably knock on the door just to tell the people shut-up, because I don't like being disturbed. I can't imagine no one would stop by to ask them to quite down or at least out of curiosity.

Whether or not he is or isn't guilty, forever when someone searches his name on google, this will follow him.

I'm just disturbed by the way the whole thing is handled. I don't think they should be releasing ANY names if they aren't going to release them ALL until they have reached a verdict.

I also agree that anytime someone says "No" and the other person doesn't listen, is it rape. But I also would never forgive myself if I didn't put more effort into stopping it than a quiet little "no." I think it should be said so the other person understands how serious you are. It's not unheard of for people to say one thing and mean another, especially when it comes to women and sex.

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written by Victim Supporter, November 08, 2009

You have no idea how you would react in a situation where all of your power and control is taken from you. So please don't criticize the victim for not knowing how to react. I happened to live in Boyd Hall as well. It is noisy. Any noise would not surprise me, therefore I would not investigate if I heard anything. During the time that I lived there, not only did I hear people having sex, but I also heard people screaming. As a college student, I think you can agree that sex and screaming is not an unusual thing to be heard on a normal weekend. The reason that we, the victim supporters, know the truth is because we witnessed events that took place before the rape. She did not like him and wanted to be friends. He was not okay with that and would always force himself on her. His story completely contradicts that. I think that it would be much appreciated if everyone that does not know both sides of the story, and was not present in the court room when this was going on would back off and stop judging. Thanks.

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girl cried wolf
written by John, November 08, 2009

They supposedly had sex multiple times that night, and at one point she went to the restroom unattended, boyd hall has a dining hall and a market in the center of it, there are plenty of people all around, all the time, especially late at night, given OU is quite the late night party school.. this girl wasted a lot of dad/moms money, and a year of this kids life, nice kid too, i think i skateboarded with him once or something.. poor kid.

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Cant be..
written by Ryan, November 08, 2009

Ya can't be hooking up and smoking weed with crazy broads like this.. it only leads to trouble.. C'mon Matt!!!

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Shame
written by Sad, November 08, 2009

There is no reason to blame the police, the courts, or the victim/survivor in this case. The blame goes to the jury, the fact of the matter is that you could have had 11 or the 12 sitting on that jury watch the event and vote guilty and still not convict. All it takes is one who feels sorry for the defendant or maybe has a son/grandson that they can't stomach signing off on a guilty verdict that would put a young person in prison for any real length of time. This is one sure way of keeping people from reporting rape at all. Right now there are young ladies out there who were assaulted over Halloween weekend and they read this story and say to themselves "there is no way I am going to put myself into that lions den." Remember it's not what people think or feel but what can be proven, and to take that a step further it has to be proven to people sometimes who will not accept guilt by someone who is cleaned up, dressed up, and coached up by a good attorney. Justice is blind, so keep that in mind.

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written by Victim Supporter, November 08, 2009

She never went to the restroom unattended. Get your facts straight before you assume something. Seriously, people who don't know the whole story need to stop commenting on what she should have done, and saying things that they don't know are true.

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..., Low-rated comment [Show]

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written by SHERRY, November 08, 2009

To me this whole story is sad. A girl says he rape her, and he says she lying. My only really question why didn't she leave the room when he left to go the bathroom. Why did her own best friends stories match hers. I really believe they were both messed up and don't know what happened. That is just an opinion. I guess we will never know the truth of the story. Today I believe you are innocent until you are proven guilty. I know I wouldn't want to go to prison just because someone accuse me of something. I didn't do. This makes me proud to be American.

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written by VICTIM SUPPORTER, November 08, 2009

For all of you who think Justice was served when the words "not guilty" were announced Friday afternoon have seriously been misinformed. Evidence may not have proven him guilty, but he knows what he did and for that karma will get him. Had you known the victim before this whole thing happened, you would understand how i feel. No one makes something like this up and then falls into a depression as far down as she did. I am sorry, but he took her away from us. She was not the bubbly and bright person she was before this. She always made me smile and never let anything damper her day. It was not until he did this to her, did she change. I blame him for that. In my heart, I along with God knows who to believe, and in time Divine justice will be served. She is a good friend of mine and I will never forget what he did to her. On top of all the s**t she's had to go through, and all the s**t she's had to hear this past week and a half, she stayed strong and kept her head up high. I believe she is a strong woman and I admire her for that. All you haters, leave it alone, its over, done with. Leave it be. Only time will tell the truth. As for now, I BELIEVE YOU BABYGIRL, ALWAYS WILL. AND I LOVE YOU.

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written by ---, November 08, 2009

Just because the jury did not find the defendant guilty does not mean he is innocent AND IT DOES NOT MEAN THE VICTIM IS LYING. Shame on all of you. In our judicial system, a jury must find the defendant guilty "beyond a reasonable doubt." Clearly, critical evidence evidence was missing to prove so.

Also, none of you have ANY right to judge the victim. None of you were present when the incident occurred. None of you witnessed the aftermath and the affect of the incident on the victim. And I can almost guarantee MOST of you were NOT present for the trial to hear ALL the facts presented to the jury. Therefore, you have no right to judge this woman because you don't REALLY know what happened. Only she and the defendant do.

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Why would you say this?
written by Nickels, November 08, 2009

"This is one sure way of keeping people from reporting rape at all. Right now there are young ladies out there who were assaulted over Halloween weekend and they read this story and say to themselves "there is no way I am going to put myself into that lions den.""

The name of the victim is not printed in the papers. I've been following this story quite in depth and I've never seen the victim's name in print. I have though seen the accused named in every single article. Google his name. If he did commit the crime and walked, that is a shame, but that is how the justice system works. File civil charges if criminal charges do not stick.

This young man if he is innocent has paid a horrible price as well. His name is forever slandered. That's how rape cases work. The accused could be innocent, but will forever have their name and the word "rape" forever linked. I'm not blaming the victim and I'm not saying a crime wasn't committed, but let's be honest nobody really wins in a rape case.

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written by ..., November 08, 2009

I did not write that, however I understand why it was written. This girl was put through hell the past year and a half, and was forced to relive the situation everyday, only to find out it was all for nothing. Girls do not report rape for exactly that reason. They don't want to go through the entire legal process for nothing. It is very scary that it's so easy to get away with rape. "...but let's be honest nobody really wins in a rape case."-- We live in a sad, sad world.

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written by ...., November 08, 2009

For all of you saying that "you will never understand until you're raped" should think about the nightmere of being wrongfully accused...

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Girl's Name
written by Freedom of Information, November 08, 2009

You can easily find the girl's name in the Athens County court logs online. You just have to search for it. But, I won't give the name out. That wouldn't be fair.

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written by --, November 08, 2009

Think of the nightmare of being raped, then watching your attacker walk free, with a smile on his face.

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written by RS, November 08, 2009

Everybody who has been following the story should probably take into account that the media doesn't always tell both sides. It is unfair to make an assumption based on something that you read in a newspaper.

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written by from a males perspective, November 09, 2009

wow i like that everything we are saying that is in support of matt is getting deleted.

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Let this be a lesson...
written by DD, November 09, 2009

I'm tired of all you people saying "that's why women don't report rape, etc..."! If Matt really is guilty, then the reason he wasn't convicted was for a lack of evidence.

LET THIS BE A LESSON, if you are ever being raped (especially if the rapist doesn't have a deadly weapon), PUT UP A FIGHT, CREATE REAL EVIDENCE. SCRATCH, PUNCH, BITE! It's true, the rapist can always try to give the "rough sex" story, but that would substantially harder to believe if there are signs of an actual struggle, say scratch marks across his face, deep bite marks on his arms... and while you're at it, he might just give up.

"Fighting Back and Stopping Rape

70% of women who fight back during an assault avoid rape.

This statistic, which we used in an education campaign a few years ago, has its' origins in a U.S. study by Pauline Bart and Patricia O'Brien in Stopping Rape: Successful Survival Strategies (1985). This research has been supported by numerous studies. The most recent of these studies, by Sarah Ullman and Raymond Knight, 'The Efficacy of Women's Resistance Strategies in Rape Situations' (1993) found that women who fought back were more likely to avoid rape than women who did not fight back, regardless of the presence of a weapon. In general, the studies found that strategies such as crying, pleading or reasoning were ineffective. Some studies even indicate that these strategies can cause increased chance of injury."

http://www.trccmwar.ca/fight-back.html

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